February Mix: Heart Broke

So far, 30 feels great. I'm embracing all the growing pains and listen to this song on repeat so I can get through the Trump news cycles. It works! Still had time to make a v. special mix for your Valentines Day. For all the lover, former lovers, and future lovers out there. Get it.

1. Slow Motion - PHOX


2. Santa Fe - Beirut


3. Drug Money - Avante Black



4. Human Performance - Parquet Courts



5. There Is Nothing Left - The Drums



6. War is Over - Lowland Hum



7. Too Small For Eyes - Mothers



8. Soaker (Bonus Track) - Alex G



9. When I Am Alone - Natalie Prass & Among Savages



10. Ludivine - M83


11. Redbone - Childish Gambino


12. Your Love - Middle Kids


13. The Story - Brandi Carlile


14. Two Little Clouds - Andy Shauf


15. Cuccuruccu Paloma - Caetano Veloso



NOTES:
1. Thanks to Julia for this one.
2. I blame the inclusion of this track on the fact that I've been watching a lot of GIRLS the past couple weeks. It's embarrassing. Sorry I'm a bad feminist.
3. See above.
6. For all #resist activists who like some biblical allegories in their songs
8. Doesn't take much to make the saddest song
13. i got to see Brandi Carlile during the Sundance Film Festival while she played to a room of too-rich people and I cried during this song. Also I took a snapchat of her and she winked at me and I didn't even know!
14. Found Andy Shauf too late to see him at Sundance, but now too late to see him when he come back to Salt Lake in March. Hope I don't get tired of listening to this song 10 times every day before I go to the show.

Saturday Verse: "Exceptions and Melancholies" - Ralph Angel

The Banquet, Rene Magritte 

EXCEPTIONS AND MELANCHOLIES 

Never before
had we been so thin and so clear
and arranged always
and in the same way going and listening
over the rooftops
to tin cans of flowers and strange
music. For an hour or more
I turned the same corner
and felt like a criminal farther and farther out to sea
among the racks of shoes and old clothes
but now looking
back I should never have
unpacked. A street
crowned with chestnut trees
ends at the sewer. You go to a theatre
and find yourself a house
outside the city
and walk the shore
forever. I don't have much
talent for poetry. When I see a wrecking ball
dangling from a crane I mean it
literally. I mean
I don't mean the world's fallen apart
or that the wrecking ball
symbolizes the eye my world-weary sister
couldn't know to turn away
from. The hospital's
exhausted. the little church is boarded up.
We leaned against the limestone
and liked the fact that tea
sweetens gradually
and the wildflowers
beneath the shad of trees gone shivering
have really livened up the cemetery
and that the tall grass and the garbage
and especially the piled-up
newspapers and the rooftop pool
fit right in among
these windowless buildings
having gathered
as we are in the flesh again
and leading another life
altogether.

                                       - Ralph Angel 

January Mix: Wrong Side Up-Right

12-31-2016

I've used up all my 2017 tears, and we're only 6 days in.

Uf.

At least this mix isn't too bad. Filled with some new friends, but mostly old friends because I'm really lazy and need them more than ever.


1. Talkin' Like You (Two Tall Mountains) - Connie Converse



2. Blue Boss - Sampa the Great



3. The Moon and the Stars - John Mark Nelson



4. Spinning Away - Brian Eno & John Cale



5. The Bird - Anderson .Paak



6. Meet You In The Maze - James Blake



7. Better Man Than He - Sivu



8. Postdoc Blues - John K. Samson



9. Days of Lavender - Promises Ltd.



10. Bad Ideas - Saintseneca



11. Vamala - Champs



12. Ballad of Big Nothing - Julien Baker



13. Generation Why - Weyes Blood



14. Elegia - Jacazek



15. Reflecting Light - Sam Phillips

Music for your Midweek: Connie Converse - "Talkin' Like You (Two Tall Mountains)"

12/29/2016

I was introduced to Connie Converse by Robin Banks, and what a great find! She is a real gem. Connie is of the same ilk of those special artists that have always hold a place in my heart. I can't wait to learn more about her. Sometimes I think disappearing at 50 doesn't sound like such a bad idea either. Here is my fave track by Connie, and the first one I heard:

Resolutions: Young and Sweet, Only (20)17

12/31/2016
Last photo of the old year

I'm celebrating 2017 by having my first cold in years. It is a good omen. You know, purging all the mucus and muck of the last year out of my system by forcing myself to take a breather (despite the inversion plagued atmosphere). I struggled coming up with some solid new years resolutions and my friends were hesitant to just pick a resolution for me.  But I finally settled on some pretty good ones to start out the year:

1. Eat what I want, whenever I want

A little over a year ago, I began eating this way, and I was the most healthy and happy with my body I had ever been. Eating this way turned food back into food, and not a punishment or a reward or a solace or anything other than food. Ice cream was just ice cream. Only eating when I wanted to also meant I made choices NOT to eat things just because they were placed before me, or  because I was feeling bad, sad, happy...whatever. It was wonderful. I felt free. For the first time, I was happy with my body and in tune with my needs. 

BUT, surprise stressors popped up in my life,  and I slipped back into my own old ways of thinking (and eating). I'm anxious to get back into that way of living. Holla to Geneen Roth and her book "Women, Food and God" for teaching me how to do it. 

2. No phone in my bed

For real, Sarah Andersen

For too long, I have begun and ended my day with social media check-ins. I'm not into making phones into the scape goat, and villainizing social media, but I do need to be more conscious about how I spend my time. This video about the unique challenges millennials face helped put my phone addiction into perspective. I'm guilty of leaving my phone on the table, scrolling through while I'm talking through friends, you name it. Having at least one space as a "no phone zone" will hopefully put me in a better headspace. Worst comes to worst, I can use Miranda July's technique to avoid distraction: 

3. Let a smile be my default

Always good one, that Thich Nhat Hanh

I think being mentally, emotionally and spiritually open has to start something. If the only thing you can muster in the face of awkward social situations is a smile, that's better than nothing. I've always hated that cheesy way of thinking, but it it works, I'll take it. This past Sunday, I put that my facial expressions to the test, and it made a HUGE difference. I have to admit, it also felt unnatural and weird (I'm an RBF kind of girl), but I'm certain it will get better with practice. Yoga was helpful in helping me realize that the way we hold our face can affect our whole mood. It's a real thing, you guys. 

Here's to a happier, healthier, and more present year for all of us. Cheers.

1/1/2017
First photo of the new year

Saturday Verse: "New Year" - Langston Hughes

LEAVES 

The years
Fall like dry leaves
From the top-less tree
Of eternity.
Does it matter
That another leaf has fallen?

                                              - Langston Hughes

Music for Your Midweek: Glen Campbell -"Good Riddance (Green Day Cover)"

12/26/2016

Couldn't find a more fitting tribute to this crapshoot of a year. Sing it, Glen: